"The safe-word is 'Palamino.'"

Every time I sit down and write an episode review that happens to involve Alec Baldwin, I can’t help but try and find some way to find fault in him as an SNL host. As an actor, I could tear him a new one with ease (ever seen “The Getaway”?) but for all practical purposes he’s the quintessential SNL host. By saying that, I admit that he’s more than just an equal to Steve Martin, Buck Henry, John Goodman, and Christopher Walken. His comic timing, chemistry with the cast, and overall performance are absolutely unequaled, and even if it’s a bad show it’s still a pleasure to see him strut his stuff.Tonight’s musical guest is no stranger to the show, either- Christina Aguilera, believe it or not, is now within reach of becoming the second female member of the Five Timers’ Club. It’s hard to believe that is her fourth appearance on the show, but unlike most of her late 1990s bubblegum counterparts, her singing career actually had legs; it didn’t hurt that she can actually sing too.And now, the sketch-by-sketch analysis:COLD OPENING: Newly elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (KW) addresses the “San Francisco lifestyle” stereotype that has dogged the Democrats in recent years, only to expose a double standard when her leather-clad aide (WF) and his human ashtray “friend” (FA) drop by unexpectedly. It’s so weird to see a liberal-bashing sketch on SNL after all the Bush-centric material that’s appeared in the last year or so; though it was a well-written sketch, I do think Wiigy needs to work on her Pelosi impression.MONOLOGUE: Alec brags about being the biggest star on the network before bringing out Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan in a shameless plug for their struggling sitcom “30 Rock.” You can just tell that the writing was a rush job.“EZdate.com”: Basically, it’s an online personals site with motel hookers. I’m not surprised that this ad spoof was cut from each of the last four dress rehearsals.“Federline Divorce Proceedings”: Britney Spears (AP) describes the various quirks of her marriage to K-Fed to her lawyer (JS) as she signs her walking papers. Who knew a nightclub for pitbulls wouldn’t make money because dogs don’t carry wallets, y’all?“Saddam’s Lawyers”: One week after he was sentenced to death, the ex-dictator (Alec) discusses making an appeal with his attorneys (FA, BH), interspersing pop culture references to soften the blow. This was decent, though the only real purpose of this sketch was to roll out Alec’s lovably gruff Hussein impression one more time.“Valtrex”: A doting wife (AP) is oblivious to her philandering husband’s (Alec) activities or the source of her herpes. This was a one-joke sketch, but at least it was short and sweet.“Awkward Carpool”: Uncomfortable moments are abound as two colleagues that hardly know each other (KW, Alec) inadvertently discuss everything from rock-climbing mishaps to Celine Dion saving teenagers from Peruvian kidnappers.SMIGELTOON: Takeru Kobayashi eats a lot of hot dogs. Need I say more?“The Platinum Lounge”: Were you as floored as I was when Paul “Simon” McCartney came out of nowhere to make an appearance? Then again, was anyone expecting to see Steve Martin and Martin Short in tonight’s broadcast? As much as I was delighted to see the cameos, I wasn’t blinded by the blatantly self-congratulatory banter between Alec and Steve. Competing over the number of times you’ve hosted is as thin as a premise gets.MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: With her summer hit “Ain’t No Other Man,” Xtina shows us how far she’s evolved since “Genie in a Bottle” seven years ago, which is to say quite a bit.WEEKEND UPDATE: I saw the midterm election jokes coming from a mile away, but this turned out to be the first memorable WU since Seth took over. An “exclusive interview” with Donald Rumsfeld (DH) became an anomaly for what will be his legacy as Secretary of Defense, while Amy’s Aunt Linda (KW) made for an droll sourpuss as she sang the praises of “Saw III” and pooh-poohed a couple of possible Oscar contenders. A segment with a waiter (AS) from a restaurant that recently served Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes was silly and Letterman-esque, but at least random humor isn’t lost on the cast and writers.“The Tony Bennett Show”: Tonight on the crooner’s hipster chatfest- Antonio Dominick Benedetto himself! After throwing guest Kevin Federline (AS) off to the side, it’s Tony vs. Phony in five minutes of cutesy, “Fernando’s Hideaway”-type banter.“Somewhere in Brazil”: Aging expatriate lothario Rick Corman (Alec) is a lurid and uncomfortable flirt inside a popular watering hole for tourists. The key to the sketch were his botched approaches; they weren’t tired old pick-up lines but they weren’t obvious pleas for attention, either.MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Xtina gives her voice her greatest challenge of the evening with the ballad “Hurt.”“A Moment With The Out-of-Breath Jogger from 1992”: It’s one decade later, and our exercise-nut friend (AS) is still rambling about events from a certain year.MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: A third performance? Hell yeah! Tony comes back to perform a duet with Xtina called “Steppin’ Out With My Baby.”Outside of the plethora of celebrity cameos, this week’s broadcast was nonetheless a delight. For instance, it was fairly obvious that the new, consolidated cast is finally starting to gel; though Alec dominated the sketches tonight (and had every right to do so), Kristen Wiig was tonight’s clutch hitter and exemplified everything I prognosticated she would do last season. Though there was an aura of smugness near the end of the broadcast, I couldn’t help but notice that I had a big goofy grin on my face when it was all over. After that dawdling start to the season, I really hope that the show keeps up with the momentum that it set with these last two broadcasts.Sketches/Segments That Will Probably Be Removed in Repeats: “EZdate.com,” “Somewhere in Brazil,” “Out-of-Breath Jogger,” and Christina Aguilera’s performance of “Hurt.”Next Week: Rapper-turned-thespian Chris “Ludacris” Bridges does double duty as host and musical guest.Feel free to contact “HelloStuart” at his new e-mail address, sma17kc@aim.com. Different handle, same great Stuart!moreless

Was this a great show or what?

Tonights episode of SNL was the best episode of SNL I've ever since I started watching the show six years ago. Alec Baldwin hosted SNL tonight for the 13th time. The musical guest was Christina Aguilera and she is unbelivable. Christina performed "Ain't No Other Man" and "Hurt." The sketches were non-stop out of control laughter, everyone of them was great. Also there were a lot of cameos in tonights episode. Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan made a suprise appearance at the top the show plugging away 30 Rock. Steve Martin made a suprise appearance. In the sketch Steve and Alec were talking about the number of times they've hosted SNL and Steve kept trying to poison Alec. Also Martin Short and Sir Paul McCartney made a suprise appearance. I guess Paul wanted to get away from Heather Mills for a little while afterall she can't STAND him if you know what I mean. Finally Tony Bennett made a suprise appearance and he did the Tony Bennett show sketch with Alec playing Tony too. At the end of the show they managed to squeeze in one more musical performance with Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera performing a duet together. All in all this was by far the best show of the season and the best show I've seen since I started watching SNL.moreless

It was pretty good. i dont think it was the best Alec Baldwin episode, but it was still pretty good.

Nancy Pelosi: Even though I dislike political sketches, this one wasn't that bad. It was just weird, but weird-funny. So it is probably a more funnier cold opening for the season.

Monologue: Nice and fast. Not that funny, but I was glad to see Tina Fey and Tracey Morgan again. EZ-Dates: haha this was a funny one. They should have put this in more episodes! I liked how Amy was a crazy lady who had her timing off on saying "Thanks EZ-Date!"Spears/Federline Divorce meeting: Haha there were some good jokes in this sketch. "I gotta go, I don't like to keep my baby in the car for more than an hour!" Haha. So they did a good job.Saddam's Lawyers: Ehhhh. We could have lived with out this one. But it was okay. Not that funny. You had to rewind sometimes to hear what they said!Valtrex: haha! This was a funny one. Thats really all I got to say.Awkward Carpool: This was a pretty funny one. They just kept going back and forth. I thought they started to go a little to long with it but thats okay. Koboyashi: That wasn't funny at all. No commentThe Platinum Lounge: This was a great one! Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Paul Simon! Wow that was good! Weekend Update: Funny, yet again. I liked Aunt Linda.The Tony Bennett Show: Ehhhh not that funny. Bosa Nova: Hahahahaha! This was a great one. What a pervert! This was one of the best sketches of the show.Overall: Amazing episode, not the best one of the season but it was still funny.moreless

memorable

i don't really like alec baldwin, but he is pretty funny. one of the things i didn't like was how there were so many random guest stars, like Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Paul McCartney (who didn't have any lines). one of the pluses was the Tony Bennett skit. I didn't know that Alec Baldwin parodied Bennett before, but this episode was a plus when the real Tony came on! Yea! I also liked Christina Aguilera's performance in this.moreless

Great episode of Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Alec Balwdin is hosting while Christin Agularu{mind my spelling}. To me the show , when somebody who hosted for the 6 times, they bring back over load of guest stars but this episode wasnt. Although there was quite a few in the following:Steve Martin, Martin Short, Paul Simon, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, i think there was another few. The sketchs were great and funny.

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)

QUOTES (7)

Amy Poehler: A new company has created a system that allows car passengers to access the Internet while driving. This is good news for anyone who wanted to use Google Earth to watch themselves hit a tree.

Kristen: Look, I had a box of dictionaries stuck on my legs for two hours. I had to read through the dictionary from A to C because no one came to help me so I think I know a little bit about throwing words around!!Alec: I'm sorry.Kristen: I'm metal from the waist down. (makes clanging noise) I-It's fine. You know? (sighs) You know what the song says! "Don't Worry, Be Happy!" Ha ha!(Alec puts his head in his hands)Alec: BOBBY MCFERRIN RAPED MY GRANDMOTHER!

Reruns of this episode edits or completely cuts the "Morning Drive" sketch where Alec Baldwin says "Bobby McFerrin raped my grandmother", and McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" playing at the end; it is replaced by "First Person In the World to Dance" and "Urigro" sketches from the Jeremy Piven/AFI episode to pad time.

Sketches cut after dress rehearsal include: "Speedreader"; a sketch about a handicapped piano player (Kenan Thompson) who solicits others for money; a sketch where two men (Alec Baldwin, Fred Armisen) are in shock over the closing of Tower Records; and a sketch where a director (Armisen) is forced to perform duties simultaneously when his star (Baldwin) fails to show up.

A sketch about two guys(Fred Armisen, Alec Baldwin) acting shocked over the closing of Tower Records was scheduled to air, but was cut due to time constraints with the addition of Christina's 3rd song. Thus, "Out of Breath Jogger from 1992" aired instead.

"The Platinum Lounge" sketch seems to have taken inspiration from "The Five-Timers Club" sketch from Tom Hanks' fifth time hosting in 1990. In the Five-Timers Club, Tom runs into Steve Martin, Elliot Gould, and Paul Simon, with Jon Lovitz as the waiter.

Paul McCartney and Martin Short did not appear in dress rehearsal, and no one played the role of McCartney in dress. Andy Samberg played the waiter's role in the "Platinum Lounge" sketch, which ended with Alec and Steve calling a truce.

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